In water wherein there are control limit values, such as purified water, water for pharmaceutical manufacturing, water for infusions, and the like, treatment reference values for microorganisms have been established in the Pharmacopeia. These waters are manufactured through purified water manufacturing equipment that uses, for example, the ultrafiltration method, the reverse osmosis membrane method, the precision filtration membrane method, or the like. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2003-260463, 2012-192315 and 2007-093209, Japanese Patent No. 2997099, and International Patent Application Publication No. 2008/038575.
During manufacturing, quality of these waters, such as purity, is controlled through monitoring electric conductivity and TOC (Total Organic Carbon), or fluorescent intensity. See, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2008-107244, 2008-111721, 2001-327967, and 2007-252978. Moreover, after these waters are manufactured, a portion of the water is extracted and inoculated into a culture medium to examine the number of colonies of the microorganisms that are produced under specific conditions. Whether or not microorganisms in the water that has been manufactured are below the treatment standard values is inspected thereby.
However, insoluble microorganisms and non-microorganism particles clog filters of purified water manufacturing devices or, even if they pass through the filters so that the water contains insoluble microorganisms and non-microorganism particles, there will be no change in electrical conductivity of the water. Moreover, often microorganisms and non-microorganism particles are easily oxidized, so detection with TOC meters is also difficult. Furthermore, even simple measurements of fluorescent intensity of water cannot identify the types of substances included in the water.
Additionally, detection of amount of suspended materials and soluble organic carbon quantities, and observations of the shapes of biofilms, are after the purified water manufacturing device is contaminated with a substantial quantity of microorganisms or non-microorganism particles. Because of this, it is difficult to discover quickly the inclusion of microorganisms and non-microorganism particles in water wherein high purity levels are required. Furthermore, discovering a large number of microorganism colony structures after the water is manufactured makes it necessary to trace back the manufacturing date to handle the purified water, which is wasteful in terms of manufacturing costs and time.
Given this, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a monitoring system and monitoring method that can monitor a purified water manufacturing device accurately and in real time.